Konstantin Konstantinov

Born 1817 (1819, according to other sources); died Jan. 12 (24), 1871, in the city of Nikolaev. Russian scientist in artillery, rocket technology, instrument engineering and automation; lieutenant general (1864).

Konstantinov graduated from the Mikhail Artillery School in St. Petersburg (1836). He was appointed commander of the St. Petersburg Rocket Institution in 1849. In 1861 he began to supervise the construction of a rocket plant in Nikolaev and in 1867 he began to supervise its operation. In 1844 he developed an electroballistic instrument that made it possible to determine the velocity of an artillery shell at any point along its trajectory. In 1847 he constructed a ballistic rocket pendulum that made it possible to determine the law governing the change of moving force on a rocket per unit time. Using this instrument, Konstantinov determined the effect that the shape and design of a rocket have on its ballistic properties, thus laying the scientific foundations of rocket design.

Konstantinov developed combat rockets (with a 4–5-km range), the design of which is considered advanced for the 19th century; he also designed launchers and equipment for rocket production and developed a process by which some rocket production operations were automated and monitored automatically; he also recommended new military applications for rockets. Konstantinov is the author of works on various problems of rocket technology, artillery, small arms, pyrotechnics, propellants, and aeronautics. Konstantinov’s name has been given to a crater on the far side of the moon.